Tag: productive

Weekend Things

LaurenLeave a comment

I think January is an underrated month.  Sure, it’s winter and there are no nationally-celebrated holidays, but that’s maybe also what’s nice about it.  Nights feel cozy, you can get back into your normal routine and just relax.  I love it!

Over the holidays, I got to see my family SO MUCH and it has been truly wonderful and fun, but I wonder if Joey has enjoyed being married to me AND four other people??  He must not mind, because he agreed to go see Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker all together on Friday night!  I’m not gonna lie, guys, I really enjoyed it.  And I really enjoyed The Last Jedi too and maybe not being super invested in the Star Wars franchise is the best place to be.  Joey clutched my hand when Babu Frik showed up on screen and I was delighted by literally every (possibly cheesy) thing that happened.  This movie has gotten so much bad press but I’m just over here having a great time.  Oh and they played this video before the movie started and I laughed SO hard!

Thursday night, when Joey was off at bowling, I made a batch of vanilla-maple almond milk and couldn’t wait to use it for our Saturday morning lattes.  It frothed so perfectly and tasted amazing, so I couldn’t have been happier.  (Please note my “latte art” in Joey’s mug, ha!)  And Joey made us pancakes after he woke up earlier than me ♥

We needed to pick up a new series to watch and went with Silicon Valley, which has been so funny so far.  After a couple of episodes, we turned the TV off and took down all the Christmas decorations.  I love the feeling of filling the house with festive sparkly things and subsequently, the feeling of extra room after you take all those things down 🙂  I headed out to get a facial later on and it was lovely!

I had been majorly craving the soup dumplings from ChoLon so we took ourselves to happy hour — I had a spicy tequila-based cocktail that had a strawberry-beet ice cube and it was so unique and delicious! — and feasted.  THOSE DUMPLINGS ♥  But also pork belly buns, kaya toast, calamari and a bite of Joey’s fried chicken slider.  Craving satisfied!  We walked over to a new indoor mini golf facility afterward but the wait was an hour to an hour and a half, so we just headed back home to watch a movie instead.

I thought Wild Rose was pretty good.  It’s the story of a Scottish woman trying to make it as a country singer and she really did have a great voice!  We maybe had to put the subtitles on because dang, Scottish accents are tough, but I’d heard the song she sings at the end was amazing and it was!

Sunday was a day of productivity!  I made us breakfast and threw a pot of black-eyed peas in the pressure cooker so we could use them later for dinner.  How cute are BEP??  My parents, my sister and Wayne are all headed to Glenwood Springs today, so we’re watching Huni for them and since I was already going to give Andi a bath, Huni got one too!  Those puppies are so silly together.  Here they are lying in each other’s beds.  We also made salads for the week and I made us some treats for later on 🙂

I went to afternoon yoga and I know it’s the beginning of a new year because the class was PACKED.  It’ll be like that through January at least!  It was still a good class and then I booked it home so we could get dinner ready before the Golden Globes.  Turned out Joey had basically done it all already!  Did you guys watch?  Ricky Gervais is truly insane and I can’t decide if I liked or hated it.  But three wins for Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, plus wins for Bong Joon Ho, Awkwafina, Fleabag and that wonderful speech by Tom Hanks were a delight.  I fist-pumped through all of Michelle Williams’s speech too!  I have no idea how Taron Egerton or the makers of Missing Link ended up accepting awards but it is the Golden Globes after all.  I’m anxious to see 1917 now!  Those treats I mentioned earlier were chocolate-covered peppermint cream-stuffed dates and they turned out really good!

What a wonderful weekend!  I hope yours was as well 🙂

Weekend Things

LaurenLeave a comment

This weekend felt weird!  By all accounts — one last Rockies game/win, leaf peeping, seeing Hustlers (!!!), extreme Sunday productivity, yoga and Sunday wing night — it was eventful and fun but look, we are leaving for a two week Italian vacation on Thursday, so I can’t say I didn’t feel a bit distracted.

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Oy, this Rockies season!  It wasn’t our best (or really our worst), but we went out on top by sweeping a playoff-bound Milwaukee Brewers team.  Also, one last trip to Biker Jim’s.  I was just two dogs from trying them ALL this season!  If you care, I’d rank them (best to worst) as follows: Elk Jalapeno Cheddar, All Beef (surprisingly good!), Louisiana Red Hots, Bacon Cheddar, Southwest Buffalo, Rattlesnake Pheasant, Vegan, Wild Boar, Jack-a-Lope, German Veal, Chicken Peach (never again).  Mostly I learned that most of those dogs are like way smaller than that bun.  Can’t we get a better-fitting bun??  Also, the real MVP is the Biker Jim’s “Classic” topping of caramelized onions and cream cheese!

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Took so long for the leaves to change this year that I almost thought we might miss it entirely but it was “peak” this weekend, so we made a plan to head to Kenosha to maybe hike, or maybe just drive through.  We got up there later than usual and it was PACKED!!!  But if you just drive up a bit, past the parking lot, you basically have the trail to yourself.  We drove up for a while then found the exact same spot to park as last year, where we ate lunch and hey, we remembered a fork this time around!  Can I just say how wonderful it is to be able to drive just a few hours to see these stunning sights and breathe that fresh mountain air?  There’s nothing like it!

Back at home, we had our groceries delivered while we parked it on the couch and watched Snatch.  Such is life in 2019!  It was my first time watching this movie and wow, I definitely laughed at the some of the stylistic choices — namely that heist scene at the beginning — but I did appreciate it as a piece of film culture.  I also feel like I’ll probably forget the plot by tomorrow and mainly just remember that crazy accent Brad Pitt is doing.

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A movie I’ll not soon forget?  HUSTLERS!  Guys, it’s good, it’s so so good!  Not only does Jennifer Lopez look INCREDIBLE but she is just in full control of this performance and she makes it look EFFORTLESS.  I know it seems like the story of a group of female strippers conning men, but at its heart, it’s the story of a relationship between two women and it’s goddamn beautiful.  It also says a lot about money and power, but you’re having so much fun that none of it feels forced or boring.

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Sunday started with breakfast at Portside — I have a love-hate relationship with this place because I love sitting out on their little patio and the food is really good but man, house made almond milk always tastes so bad to me and it smells floral in an extremely funereal way in there and I do NOT love it.  After, I prepped some wings for dinner (!!!), made salads for the week, cleaned the bathroom, picked up lunch and some new mascara and packed for our vacation!  I feel so proud of myself!!!  I want to pretend I am a totally chill and laid back person, but vacation in general, and especially one that involves a nine and a half our flight and a country that speaks a different language, makes me feel a little panicky.  I’m hoping being mostly packed means I won’t wake up in the middle of the night thinking about the stuff I don’t want to forget to put in my suitcase for the rest of the week 😛  I think I feel ready!

I even had time to make it to yoga and wow, it felt so good!  The Cowboys played the Saints on Sunday night football and while I still can’t get behind the idea of football, I can TOTALLY get behind the idea of football food and there’s nothing better than not paying attention to the game and instead digging into a plate of wings.  Plus, these were REALLY GOOD and I straight up LOVED this miso roasted cauliflower.  A+ evening, even though the Cowboys lost.  I am going to do my best to keep my head in the game work-wise for the next three days but it already feels so hard!